Franklin County Prosecutor Who Resigned Before Impeachment Seeks Reelection

John Lavoie, the former Franklin County state's attorney who resigned in August 2023 as a House committee prepared to recommend his impeachment, is running for the office again as an independent. Lavoie, 74, faces Zach Weight, the attorney he defeated by nearly 2,000 votes in 2022. Weight, 40, won both the Republican and Democratic nominations in August.

The campaign follows a May 2023 investigation commissioned by the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs after employees raised concerns about Lavoie's workplace conduct. John Campbell, the department's executive director, announced the inquiry at a Statehouse press conference. The probe, conducted by the Burlington firm Paul, Frank and Collins, produced a 10-page report documenting dozens of instances in which Lavoie made statements about race, religion, sexual orientation, weight and disability. The report cited remarks including "whore," "retard," a reference to a victim in a wheelchair as "gimp," and a comment about a woman's breasts. It also described an incident in which Lavoie allegedly pinched a woman's midsection and remarked on her lunch. Lavoie denied pinching her and said his comment concerned Taco Bell, not skipping a meal.

The department's executive committee voted unanimously to ask Lavoie to resign. He declined. Lawmakers then opened an impeachment process, largely in private, and a special House committee was preparing to recommend impeachment to the full chamber when Lavoie quit. Because he left before the committee acted, the proceedings stopped. Had he been impeached and removed, he could have been barred from running again. In a recent phone interview, Lavoie said he had tried to "explain it away" when the findings became public. "I have plenty of excuses for my behavior, but none of them are adequate or even appropriate to make," he said.

Gov. Phil Scott appointed Bram Kranichfeld, a Burlington resident and former prosecutor, to finish the term. Kranichfeld declined to run for reelection and instead sought the Democratic nomination to unseat Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George, losing by three points. Lavoie has lived in St. Albans city since the late 1980s and joined the Franklin County office in 2004. Weight has practiced law for 12 years, mostly as a defense attorney, and since 2022 has served as a deputy prosecutor in Washington County. Scott appointed Weight to run a pilot accountability court in Chittenden County for defendants with five or more pending cases; the docket cleared a backlog of low-level cases and connected defendants to services such as housing and addiction treatment, a model now used in other counties.

Rep. Martin LaLonde, a South Burlington Democrat who chaired the impeachment committee, said he believed Lavoie would not seek office again. "I believe that it was very serious misconduct, and don't believe that he should be in that position again," LaLonde said. Lavoie said he never promised he would stay out of the race. "I admitted my behavior .. and ultimately, I also chose to resign, and I think that that is an ultimate expression or acceptance of responsibility," he said. Jim Hughes, the former state's attorney, endorsed Weight in a letter published by the St. Albans Messenger, calling him a "bright and capable attorney" who worked "without creating animosity."